Smiling Eyes

Smiling at the artist, this high-cheeked gentleman is depicted wearing an azure blue coat over a striped waistcoat and translucent white stock tied in a generous bow, his hair powdered. Signed ‘Hull’ bottom right, the miniature is set in a gold frame that is glazed on the reverse to show foiled blue glass with a central aperture of plaited brown hair. Both the miniature and the frame are in excellent condition.

Thomas Henry Hull was born in Surrey in 1754 to Thomas and Jane (née Pegrom). His father died when he was just one year old. He married Mary Sparke in London in April 1780 and with her had four sons and four daughters. Hull was mostly a London-based artist though newspaper adverts place him in Dublin during 1790 and in Leeds during 1796.